# Communal toilet use **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269 "2019-07-18T19:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/41 "2019-07-19T15:44:52Z")
Two anecdotes. 1. Singer Patti Smith had a job where the women’s toilets were in the open in a room and no one would pee during work. They were in agony by the end of the day. She named her first, very limited release album, “Piss Factory”. See, artists do need to experience pain. 2. A nearby plating shop had a small restroom connecting to the main work area. Several buddies of the owner got together and planned a prank. They had someone pose as an elderly customer with a cane who was blind and somewhat confused. When he asked to go to the potty and was directed to the restroom he stumbled around and pretended to not be able to find the door. The owner pulled the door partly open and pointed the guy at it. He fumbled with the door, spun around a bit and swung the door shut - \*while he was still outside the restroom. \* He poked around with the cane until it hit something in the shop. He then proceeded to drop his pants and do a hover while he shit in the shop wastebasket. All to the horror of the business owner. The others guys were in tears laughing. So that guy didn’t mind. At. All. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/42 "2019-07-20T00:52:09Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > It seems pretty obvious to me that the intent of that setup is to give the _ **single** _ user the option of the toilet or the urinal. Possibly to reduce mess as many men who feel it is imperative they stand to pee suck at aiming, so give them a urinal. Also, a urinal uses much less water than a flush toilet. So having a urinal available saves money for the business that pays for the water, and saves water for the earth’s environment. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/43 "2019-07-20T01:34:21Z")
They actually redesigned the toilets near my office to remove the barriers. The men’s room used to have two urinals, a toilet stall, and a sink. But the stall was too small to be ADA compliant. So they removed the barriers and one urinal, put a lock on the door, and made the bathroom unisex (with a sign saying to lock the door for privacy). The woman’s room nearby was also made unisex, but that just involved putting a different sign. It had a single toilet and sink. It was several months before I realized men could use it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/44 "2019-07-20T02:42:20Z")
> [@Helmut\_Doork](#): > > Personally with this set up when urinating only I don’t lock, under the assumption that someone else could come in to use the toilet to urinate, and we would be back to back so no difference really there than urinals against both walls. > > I thought someone might yell at me for locking when the other is free? > > Can anyone confirm if the ladies equivalent to this is two toilets facing each other, no divider? There’s no female equivalent, since the “urinal and throne” arrangement is for a single user. > [@drad\_dog](#): > > Royalty had no privacy? They had as much as they could afford, didn’t they? If they didn’t make it happen then privacy just wasn’t a value to anyone. You mean, those people who got to consummate their marriages in front of witnesses? Way back when as today, famous people often have less privacy than regular citizens. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/45 "2019-07-20T05:19:54Z")
I think I’ve read of royalty granting an audience while defecating. And wasn’t it an honor to be privileged to do the wiping for the king? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/46 "2019-07-20T05:30:03Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > I think I’ve read of royalty granting an audience while defecating. And wasn’t it an honor to be privileged to do the wiping for the king? The [Groom of the Stool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom_of_the_Stool) was an important office under the Tudors. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/47 "2019-07-20T07:37:10Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It used to be that there was little or no privacy in life for anyone, whether slave or serf or even royalty. You did everything around other people, so why would bodily elimination be an exception? > > I think it was with the rise of privacy (which is more recent than folks might suppose) that folks started peeing and pooping out of sight of others. People weren’t squeamish before because even if they were there wasn’t much choice about it, you just didn’t have much or even any privacy. Painting with a bit too broad a brush there. There were widely varying customs regarding bodily elimination, before recent times. For instance, early ethnographers noted how certain Siberian hunter-gatherers would routinely walk wide off course on the tundra to relieve themselves, so no-one (including their own folk) could witness the act. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269/48 "2019-07-20T13:15:44Z")
Here, if I’m lucky, is a nice paiting of the front part of a sailing ship (the head) [https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fqph.fs.quoracdn.net%2Fmain-qimg-ce132f2815e2f27a1680f2d740aef578&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2FHow-did-medieval-sailors-go-to-the-bathroom-on-their-ship&docid=F9ouBdttpbZGBM&tbnid=xr8ES6vvXVI1SM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiBrfXHycPjAhUt8HMBHdesDQcQMwhBKAAwAA..i&w=602&h=316&client=firefox-b&bih=624&biw=1024&q=sailing%20ship%20toilets&ved=0ahUKEwiBrfXHycPjAhUt8HMBHdesDQcQMwhBKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fqph.fs.quoracdn.net%2Fmain-qimg-ce132f2815e2f27a1680f2d740aef578&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2FHow-did-medieval-sailors-go-to-the-bathroom-on-their-ship&docid=F9ouBdttpbZGBM&tbnid=xr8ES6vvXVI1SM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiBrfXHycPjAhUt8HMBHdesDQcQMwhBKAAwAA..i&w=602&h=316&client=firefox-b&bih=624&biw=1024&q=sailing%20ship%20toilets&ved=0ahUKEwiBrfXHycPjAhUt8HMBHdesDQcQMwhBKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8) I can’t give a better link because the computer I’m using doesn’t have a browser that works with the modern web. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communal-toilet-use/837269.md?page=2)